2013 Canadian Rep of the Year

ONTARIO

As a suburban skate rat growing up in the 80s, I skateboarded year round in the humidity of summer and in the arctic like winters. I’m not sure if it was the Juicy Fruit commercial, the Sims ad in Thrasher or the countless broken Tracker Six Track baseplates, but for me snowboarding imitated skateboarding on snow and I was hooked. From that point on everything I did revolved around snowboarding. My un-official start in sales was introducing friends to snowboarding, selling them my used gear so I could buy new gear. In the early 90s I moved to Lake Louise post high school and my official start in the industry began when I moved back with jobs at Windward Mark and then Pacific Skates while going to University. In 1998 I moved to Vancouver, working at Grouse Mountain and the Boardroom with great people like Murray Fraser. When I moved back to Ontario in 2000, I was lucky enough to help launch a new brand nationally as the Brand/Team/Sales manager while also working as the Ontario rep. It was this opportunity that allowed me to gain insight into all facets of the industry from manufacturing, to brand management to marketing to repping. I had a great mentor and manager in Rick Lightfoot, who was always open to listen and provide feedback. After 7 years I left that role to work at SBC Media in the sales department. The SBC environment is filled with amazing people but I greatly missed repping and the interaction with retail, so In 2008, I started my own agency - MHG Sales. Thanks to Jay Good, No Limits and C3, I was able to start the agency working with CAPiTA, Union Binding Company and Coal. Five years later, with a diverse brand roster and the help of sub-rep Connor Dudgeon, the agency is still going strong.

I’m truly honoured to receive this award but I’m even more grateful for the friendships I’ve made along the way and the opportunity to work with great people at great shops, brands and distributors. I still feel the same joy seeing new product and sharing it with others as I did when I got those early buyers guides and shared with friends. I’m lucky that I enjoy all aspects of this industry from working with shops, to demoing, to merchandising, to throwing events to marketing to the pure joy of snowboarding and as a result work never seems like work.

“The Show was awesome! Tons of traffic and excitement, which we were really excited about. We’ll be back every year moving forward. We’ve gotten new business from being here, and as a launch year, it’s been absolutely great.”Tracy Bordwell, Creative and Technical Design, Fate Clothing

"As a snow-sports journalist, I find the SIA Snow Show to be an invaluable resource. There's nowhere else I can survey all of the latest gear and get face time with interesting suppliers, retailers, athletes, and other industry movers all in one place."Sam Bass, editor-in-chief, Skiing Magazine

“You have everyone in one place, so you can see everything you need and get an idea of where trends are going. It’s a good overview of what’s going on in the industry. Last year we picked up a couple new lines that I wouldn’t have necessarily picked up had I not gone to SIA. The Show gets you psyched.”Jim Slanetz, Owner, Board Bin, ID

“From our standpoint, our line has gotten larger each year, and the exposure at the Show is huge. There are so many people here and this Show seems to grow every year, it’s really beneficial for our sales reps to be here.”Carrie Crogan, Trade Show Coordinator, Under Armour